§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list in the OFFICIAL REPORT the Sums provided in 1967–68 by each university in the United Kingdom to offset the increase in fees for overseas students, 168W and the amounts for this purpose allocated from the central fund to each university.
§ Mr. Gordon WalkerInformation is not available on sums provided by universities to remit fees to overseas students. I am asking the British Council to seek the views of the Advisory Board on the request that the amounts of individual allocations to universities from the Overseas Students' Special Fund should be published and I will write to my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the number of full-time overseas students registered in the universities of the United Kingdom at 31st October, 1967, the number admitted for the first time in October, 1967, and the corresponding figures for 1966.
§ Mr. Gordon WalkerThe provisional total for Great Britain is 14,099, of whom, I am informed by the University Grants Committee, 2,797 are new entrants to undergraduate and lower level courses, and 4,462 to postgraduate courses. It is not known how many of the latter are entering British universities for the first time. The figures for Northern Ireland are 199, 44 and 19 respectively.
The definition of an overseas student for statistical purposes has been altered to conform with the precise classification devised for fee purposes. Directly comparable figures are not therefore available. According to the wider definition previously used the number of full time overseas students in universities in Great Britain last year was 16,915. There were also 202 in Northern Ireland. Figures for new entrants from overseas were not collected last year.